10 year house anniversary

On Halloween, we celebrated 10 years of living in our house.  We moved in on Halloween day in 2002.  Kelsey was 9 months old and the house seemed so HUGE compared to the little apartments and small homes we had been renting for the first 7 years of our marriage.  We didn't have much furniture and so we had ALOT of space for Kelsey to crawl around and grow up in.  When we moved into our house, we had already moved 18 times previous to this move in 4 different states.  WOW!  No wonder we didn't have much furniture! 

 Anyway, the last 10 years have been great.  When we moved in, the yard had not been touched, other than the mess the builders made trying to bury concrete chunks in the yard.  Weeds, lots and lots of weed!  It was a mess.  I started on the east side of my house - leveled it, tilled it, added more soil, and planted.  It was a weak beginning, but it was a beginning.  Every summer for about 4 summers, I just took another chunk of the yard and made it work.  It was awesome!  We also had to fix the deck.  My dad and Matt took the whole thing off in 2005, made a few fixes, and put it back on.  

This is Kelsey, so darn cute and 3 years old.  When my parents came up to help with the deck, my mom brought Kelsey this little fairy-whatever costume.  We still have it, and it is about worn out.  She loved it!

  I was only a month away from delivering Kendal when my parents came up to fix the deck, but I tried to be helpful.  My dad also delivered some railroad ties I had purchased on that trip and my sweet neighbor Derek, who was about 12, helped me dig and place them all in the dirt patch on the west side of the house.

 See how I would go in chunks?  By 2005, the east side, the back, the front, and a small portion of the west side was going okay.  I just had to conquer the hardest part - this monster west side.

Well, I suppose it is conquered now.  The kids love it and I love it.  There is plenty of green to go around and the trees I planted are starting to provide some real shade.  I still don't have a sprinkler system, but I make things work.  This is Kendal and Emmitt in June of 2012 playing around.  My yard did suffer quite a bit this summer because I was so big and fat pregnant that I didn't want to do much, or I was nursing a new babe and again, didn't want to do much.  Next summer will be AWESOME!  Promise!

We have had a lot of fun at our house over the past few years and I like to have a few little get togethers with friends and neighbors, and of course family.  We should have had more this summer, but we did get to play with some family for the 24th of July.  It was so so so so fun.

Looking at these pictures make me miss summer even more!  Darn this time change!  Darn the beautiful 4 seasons we enjoy here in this gorgeous valley!  Just kidding, it is wonderful.  I love Utah and I love our little haven here in the Heber Valley.  Now, I just need some new flooring.  Don't you think 10 years is long enough?  I sure do!